"Prevent the Plunge in Shine Muscat Prices"... Gyeongsan City Forms Quality Control Team to Avoid Early Harvesting

Gyeongsan City announced on the 23rd that it plans to form a quality control team to enhance the quality of its major specialty product, Shine Muscat, and operate it until the 15th of next month.

This measure comes in response to the nationwide surge in Shine Muscat cultivation farms and the decline in quality caused by early harvesting by some farms, which led to a price crash last year and a significant drop in repurchase rates, resulting in consumer rejection.

Gyeongsan Shine Muscat Cultivation Farm

The Gyeongsan City quality control team consists of about 20 members, including grape farmers, public officials, and representatives from the Nonghyup (National Agricultural Cooperative Federation). They provide on-site guidance and supervision at each stage of production, shipment, and distribution, including managing sugar content, to ensure that high-quality Gyeongsan Shine Muscat is sold to consumers. They also conduct promotional activities to prevent early harvesting and distribution of substandard products such as unripe fruit.

Lee Hee-su, director of the Gyeongsan Agricultural Technology Center, urged, “For the future of Gyeongsan Shine Muscat, please refrain from early harvesting of unripe fruit that chases short-term profits,” and added, “We will strive to enhance the value of Gyeongsan Shine Muscat through thorough quality management.”

The current status of Shine Muscat cultivation in the Gyeongsan area includes 1,450 farms covering 520 hectares, accounting for 45% of the total grape production in Gyeongsan.

Shine Muscat grown in greenhouses in the Gyeongsan area has already been shipped this month and is selling for around 20,000 KRW per 2 kg of premium-grade fruit. Last year, as the Shine Muscat harvest increased, prices once plummeted to below 12,000 KRW per 2 kg of premium-grade fruit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.